B.C. Transit spends $5M on land for Uptown exchange

B.C. Transit recently purchased the last piece of the puzzle to build a transit exchange at Uptown in Saanich. Transit had to acquire four parcels of land, at a cost of $5 million, at Ravine Way and Carey Road.

In addition, there are adjacent properties owned by the District of Saanich and the Ministry of Transportation that will be used for the Uptown exchange.

“What we want to do now is (work) with Saanich to look at how we develop the area. What’s that site going to look like? What’s the exchange going to look like?” said Manuel Achadinha, president and CEO of B.C. Transit. “We want to be conscious of the fact that we don’t want to build something now that we’ll have to rip out later to accommodate rail.”

B.C. Transit will continue leasing the newly acquired property to the former landowners, until a plan is created for the exchange.

Uptown has been identified by B.C. Transit and Saanich council as a central hub for transit in the future.